


Boys Next Door

by CrypticRoxann, Synsouls



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, M/M, Supernatural Being, Werewolf!dirk, more tags added as needed, vampire!Dave
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-25
Updated: 2015-10-26
Packaged: 2018-04-28 01:11:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5072194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrypticRoxann/pseuds/CrypticRoxann, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Synsouls/pseuds/Synsouls
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Karkat is less than impressed when he gets new neighbours, but comes to learn they maybe aren't so bad after all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. First Meeting

**Author's Note:**

> This was initially an rp which I am trying to reformat into a fic. Most of this is just the original text but I had to make a few edits to make it work. However, having laid the groundwork, the subsequent chapters are going to deviate from our 'canon'.

Karkat glared at the wall. There had been an absolute racket coming from the other side of it for the last hour or two as the new tenants moved in. Half of him wanted to go over and help them so it would be over faster, half of him wanted to just scream out the door because he were so damn tired of hearing the banging and crashing, not to mention the _terrible_ one liners.

The older one carried another box up the stairs and threw it in the others’ general direction through the door. "Yo lil man, another one of yours."  
Karkat heard him catch it. "Dude, be careful with this shit! It's my collection of dead things."

He stared at the wall incredulously, 'Dead things? Are they psychopaths?!', before huffing and turning on his stereo to drown them out, playing Pretty Girl by Sugar Cult.

Dirk smirked as the music started playing, shrugging to Dave. "How bout get your ass down to the truck and help unload it then."  
Dave paused, listening to the music as well, before snickering. "Fuck that noise, neighbour just challenged us to a fight." He moved to unpack his radio, setting it up before blaring Nerves by Icon for Hire.

Karkat growled, "Fuckin' shit-bulge!" He crouched down to look at his stereo before turning it up, referring to the back of the mixtape case before changing the song to Volatile Times by IAMX. To top it off, he banged on the wall. 'Assholes got no respect for shared space.'

Dirk rolled his eyes and crossed over to Karkat’s door. It was unlocked, so he simply opened it and grinned, shouting over the racket. "Play nice kiddies, I'm going back down to the truck. I'm Dirk by the way." Before Karkat could even formulate a reply aside from enraged spluttering, he skipped off downstairs again.

Dave just laughed and banged on the wall twice before changing his song to Counting Bodies Like Sheep by A Perfect Circle.

Karkat hissed as his own stereo suddenly and abruptly gave up, the light going out and the music cutting off. "Now how the fuck am I gonna drown that horseshit out..." He stopped and listened to the music for a bit, still thinking about Dirk. He wondered what the other one was like. His taste in music wasn't _terrible_ exactly... Karkat banged on the wall again good naturedly, three hits this time.

Of course, Dave just snickered and banged on it four times, following it up with a fake moan that he timed with the music.

Karkat snapped away from the wall, cursing. “What the actual FUCK, nookstain!”

Dirk carried up another box and glanced through the door, rather amused to see a brightly blushing troll staring so impudently at the wall. "David Elizabeth Strider, are you disturbing the peace again?" He said jokingly as he walked into their place and set down the last box. "We're all done lil man, time to finish unpacking."

"David..." Karkat murmured to himself, making a mental note. David and Dirk. They were either going to be the worlds worst neighbours, or the best. There was no possibility for a grey area.

Dave grinned. "Naw, I'm having way too much fun with the neighbour. Maybe I'll go over and introduce myself."

Dirk rolled his eyes with a laugh. "Well it's working from what I could tell. Go ahead."

"Fuck off!" could be heard from the other side of the wall.

He laughed. "Fuck yes I'll be right back." He got up and headed out towards Karkat’s door, just opening it like his brother did. "Sup."

Karkat whirled on him, eyes narrowing to a point as he crossed your arms tightly, "Don't you fuckasses ever knock?!" 

Dave grinned and winked, putting on a stupid tone. "Hey sexy, wanna party?" He waggled his hips and let out another moan.

Karkat promptly took a cushion off the couch and lobbed it at Dave, "Is that how you greet people?" He snapped shrilly, "No I don't want to fucking party David get out of my place."

He laughed, easily catching it. "It's not 'David', it's Dave."

Karkat stood for a second before hissing, "Well Dave, I'm Karkat. And uh... I'd like the cushion back."

He put the cushion in Karkat's hand before offering the other one to shake. "Nice to meet ya."

Karkat just stared at his outstretched hand venomously.

He frowned, looking a little dejected. Or at least as far as the troll could tell behind those dumbass shades. "Hey man, did I do something? I'm sorry, I can make it up to ya. Buy ya dinner? Some shit like that."

Ugh he’s **nice** now. "No look, it's.. it's fine, you didn't do anything. I'm just being a jerk. Look, do you wanna come in? I can make you coffee or something, I don't know. It's just been a bit of a sucky week. And you were kind of being annoying."

He nodded, pausing. "I... don't drink coffee. Not a thing I'm capable of. I wish I was though, be so much easier. But yes, I would like to come in instead of standing outside like an ass all day."

"Uh.. right. Lactose intolerance?" He queried lightly, stepping out of the way. "Uh wait, that's not really my business huh."

He snorted. "Nah, not enough... iron?" he said as he stepped inside.

"Ohkayy?" Karkat obviously still didn't understand, closing the door behind Dave before wandering into the kitchen to put the kettle on. "Well, I've got other drinks if you want anything. And theres probably something edible in the fridge... Maybe. So long as Spades hasn't eaten it already. Oh yeah, I hope you don't have animal allergies, I have a dog. And he's _really_ good at getting into things. I'm rambling again I'm sorry."

He laughed. "Naw, I can't eat anything either. Same reason as coffee. Sucks, but I get by." he winked.

Karkat peeked around the door, "You don't eat or drink anything?" His brain flashed back to an utterly cringeworthy movie at that. "Ohhh wait. Okay. Got it." He smirked. "Yeah, I bet that does really _suck_." He disappeared back into the kitchen and returned a few seconds later with a cup of coffee.

Dave just groaned. Like he hadn't heard _that_ at least a dozen times...


	2. Just a bite...

After about a half hour of chatting comfortably like age old friends, Karkat had learned that the Striders had been evicted from their previous apartment following numerous noise complaints, among other issues. They’d drifted for a little while before Dirk had saved up enough to be able to pull their shit out of storage and get them into a new apartment. And so here they were.

Karkat explained his situation then. “Well, I actually got evicted from my last place too. Mainly because of my stupid lusus. Screeing at ungodly hours.” They both paused to laugh. “Yeah, neighbours don’t take too kindly to midnight screaming, so we had to move on. I’d just finished college so I decided to branch off. My lusus found himself some shithole in a backward neighbourhood. They don’t seem to mind him too much there. And I came here. Been here about three years now.”

The conversation had mainly dwindled off there, Dave looking thoughtfully at Karkat as the troll cupped his coffee. Finally, Dave asked “So, what was your major?”

“Nursing. I was top of the class, graduated early.” Karkat gave a nod to a certificate on the wall. “Been working at the hospital downtown for a while now. If you don’t mind my asking, what do you and your brother do for a living?”

Dave shrugged, “I’m a DJ, also downtown. Dirk… runs a website. An online store if you will. Just don’t ever ask him about what he sells unless you’re prepared for retinal scarring.”

Karkat laughed, “That bad huh? Alright. What’s being a DJ like?”

The vampire shrugged. “Deadass crowd usually, half of them too stoned out of their mind to care what I play, but the pay’s good so I’ve stuck with it. Just mix up a few sick beats and leave them to it. But hey, Nurse Karkat huh?”

Karkat swatted him lightly, “Shove off Dave. Yeah Nurse Karkat. I’m usually on shift at the childrens ward. I don’t mind it. They’re gonna be scared shitless when I moult though.”

Dave looked at him in confusion, “When you what?”

“Didn’t they teach you anything at wriggler school David? Trolls go through two major moults. One is from grub stage to adolescent stage. Basically child to teenager. The second one is teenager to adult. The adult stage for trolls. I’ll probably get taller-”

“Well there’s a plus, because you’re kinda shrimpy as it is.”

Karkat glowered before continuing, “Basically I’m not gonna look so friendly anymore. There’s a couple other adult trolls on shift at the hospital, but they’re all signed to deal with the difficult patients, so they’ll probably shift me too.”

Dave clearly wasn’t paying attention anymore, he’d thought of something. “Hey so you’d have access to the good stuff right? I mean, I get by and all, but care to donate to the Bank of Strider? It’s been way too long since my last fix.”

It took a moment of Karkat staring at him before realising he wasn’t talking about pharmaceuticals. “No Dave, I **don't** have access to ‘the good stuff’. Hemoglobin is not my department. I wouldn’t imagine it’s too far-fetched for you to just take it straight from the source however. To my understanding that’s what most do. If the patrons of your workplace are as incapacitated as you say, I imagine you could just sample from them, so long as it was done carefully.”

Dave shook his head, “No way man. You of all people should know that drugs are in the bloodstream. If I took a bite of them, I’d be no better off. And I aint putting that kind of shit in my system.”

Karkat set his cup down on the table before turning to Dave. “How about a volunteer then. I have never taken recreational substances, and I am most assuredly free of blood viruses.”

Dave laughed, “Nah it’s okay. Unless that’s a legit offer?”

Karkat nodded to him firmly. "It's a legit offer. A starved vampire is no good to anyone." Dave flashed him a fanged smile.

At that point a Harlequin Great Dane decided it was time to investigate the visitor, getting up from under a pile of blankets in the corner and trotting over, narrowly missing knocking everything off the coffee table with his tail.

"Uh that’s Spades. Here boy! Please don't break my shit. Or Dave."

The young man in question simply laughed. "Aww, he's a cutie. Better than the mutt that hangs around me." He grinned. "Long story there. Well, more like I'm hungry and willing to take you up on that offer."

"Alright, well, hows this work then?" Karkat absently bent to scratch behind the massive dog's ears. "Yeah good boy, go on." Spades happily trotted back to his corner, knocking an empty glass onto the carpet as he passed.

He shrugged. "Well, I _can_ bite anywhere. But it's best where a larger vein is. Like a shot. So a specific place on your arm or your neck, for example. If you want, I can just go with your arm. For obvious reasons, the neck is more intimate... Unless you _want_ to live every teen fantasy." he smirked.

Karkat coloured slightly, but didn't waver, smirking cheekily. "Maybe I do." After all, Dave was certainly far from unattractive. And he might be fonder of aforementioned cringeworthy vampire film than he’d previously implied.

Dave rolled his eyes with a knowing smile. "That can be arranged."

"Well get on with it then." Karkat took off his sweater to make it easier, as it had a pretty high neck; now only wearing a thin grey tshirt over his chest. He tossed the sweater in Spades general direction.

Dave immediately scooted closer and lowered his head to Karkat’s neck, licking it before sinking his fangs into the thin grey skin.

Karkat made the briefest little noise of discomfort at the sharp sensation before his brain suddenly remembered he was afraid of bleeding, and blood. His vision went white, and he promptly passed out.

When he came to, Karkat was covered by one of the blankets from the corner, a fresh cup of coffee in front of him on the table. Dave was perched at the other end of the couch, watching him closely.

“Welcome back. You feeling okay?”

He nodded. “I think so. I uh… may have belatedly remembered I have a blood phobia.”

Dave cracked up at that. “A nurse scared of blood? Seriously? No wonder you don’t work with ‘hemoglobin’. Ah that’s priceless. Here I was concerned that I’d damaged you or taken too much or something. I made you a coffee, and your dog bit me in the ass for my trouble.”

Karkat shot a look to Spades in his corner, who immediately started thumping his tail enthusiastically. Sighing, he picked up the coffee and tried it, making a face. "Jegus fuck Dave, this is _**terrible**_!"

Dave raised his hands in mock surrender, "Don't eat or drink remember, I'm out of practice!"

Dirk meanwhile had worked out that Dave probably wasn't coming back anytime soon. He'd shut the door and proceeded to largely finish unpacking their shit before wolfing out and sprawling himself on the couch. Maybe purposely shedding on Dave's coat. He didn't really care.


End file.
